So the other day I restored my rooted phone back to stock everything and unrooted. I thought my photos were saved to my SD card so I didn't think about saving anything when I restored. But yesterday I went to upload a photo and they were all gone! Luckily I made a twrp backup before I restored but I have no idea how to find my photos in the backup. Can anybody help?
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?
jd1639 said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't have them saved anywhere.. Is there a tool that will allow me to still view the data from the saves?
white.noise said:
I didn't have them saved anywhere.. Is there a tool that will allow me to still view the data from the saves?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You had them on your internal? Idk of any tool that can recover them. Someone very familiar with adb may be able to help on how to access the sd card but it won't be easy. There are, expensive, services that can recover them but they'd have to be very important to you.
In the future, set up Dropbox. It's free for a fair amount of storage and it's automatic. Take a pic and it'll upload.
TWRP does not backup photos in DCIM folder in internal memory
jd1639 said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks jd. I found this thread because I was doing a search for what TWRP actually backs up. I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
TWRP is definitely a very good backup utility, but I think that some kind of pop-up message (with a don't show again checkbox option) would be nice to warn users that TWRP doesn't backup the DCIM photos. I'm thinking that if the utility has the option to backup data + system + boot, then it should backup the valuable user data - which includes photos in internal memory (- that would be expected).
I'm running stock rooted ICS ROM, and I use TWRP to backup data+boot+system, and I also use KIES to do a backup as well. The TWRP restore gets all the apps back (and most things), and the KIES restore gets back the photos. A nice combo.
kennyTSV said:
Thanks jd. I found this thread because I was doing a search for what TWRP actually backs up. I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
TWRP is definitely a very good backup utility, but I think that some kind of pop-up message (with a don't show again checkbox option) would be nice to warn users that TWRP doesn't backup the DCIM photos. I'm thinking that if the utility has the option to backup data + system + boot, then it should backup the valuable user data - which includes photos in internal memory (- that would be expected).
I'm running stock rooted ICS ROM, and I use TWRP to backup data+boot+system, and I also use KIES to do a backup as well. The TWRP restore gets all the apps back (and most things), and the KIES restore gets back the photos. A nice combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it makes sense to not back up the internal user storage. It's the same way it wouldn't back up an external SD, and plus then if it tried to back up all of it then it would add a few more gigs to the backup size and it probably wouldn't fit for many people. Not to mention that making a backup of something on itself is not the greatest idea in the first place (all the others are at least backups of different partitions). Makes more sense to just regularly pull off files to PC before doing flashing and modifying.
DeadlySin9 said:
I think it makes sense to not back up the internal user storage. It's the same way it wouldn't back up an external SD, and plus then if it tried to back up all of it then it would add a few more gigs to the backup size and it probably wouldn't fit for many people. Not to mention that making a backup of something on itself is not the greatest idea in the first place (all the others are at least backups of different partitions). Makes more sense to just regularly pull off files to PC before doing flashing and modifying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks deadlysin. I know where you're coming from there....know what you mean. I don't mind it if TWRP doesn't backup all user data in internal memory after now having understood what TWRP defines as 'data' in it's 'DATA + system + boot' backup. I now use a combo of TWRP and KIES for backing up. The TWRP does a nice job of preserving most things - apps, call logs, contacts, messages etc, and KIES does the photos, as well as contacts and messages (but KIES seems to have a problem with backing up call logs, but TWRP can handle call logs which is great).
I fully understand the extra memory that a TWRP backup would take (in some cases) if TWRP did have an option for backing up the internal storage DCIM data too. But I reckon that it would be terrific to have such an option where 'data + system + boot' creates a complete image of internal storage information. The reason for this is because I was looking for a utility that would provide a fairly 'complete' one-shot backup of the user environment (photos, logs, messages, contacts, apps etc etc). But for TWRP, it looks like the definition of 'data' at the moment is 'data MINUS photos and possibly some other internal storage things'. This is ok though - since the most important thing is to just understand which user/personal data is not included in a TWRP 'data + system + boot' backup. On the net, I saw a TWRP page that had contents saying 'what to back up?', and on that page, I think that adding extra information like 'which user information/data does TWRP NOT backup?' would be handy. Anyway, the TWRP software is really good. Highly recommended.
kennyTSV said:
I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem with CWM, no photos in the backup. I also thought first that something was preventing CWM to backup everything. And everywhere it reads that this backup would be a nandroid backup and therefore an exact copy of the contents. So this obviously is not correct - looks like a lot of people are copying statements without knowing or proofing.
The folder /sdcard/0 (which actually is /data/media ) is the part which you are allowed to see without root permissions and here is all the data like photos, media, downloads and so on which you created or copied there.
THIS is the way to get this important folder - at least it worked with CWM 6.0.4.7:
Enter recovery mode. Connect Phone to PC. ADB should be already installed. Create an empty folder and change directory to there within command shell. Type in
adb pull /sdcard/0
and voilá, you will have a copy of all the missed data.
Related
I want to delete the bloatware on my Vibrant. I have Root Manager and Titanium Backup. I tried backing up Sims 3, deleted it, but could only restore data, not the app. I deleted the Sims, but was able to get the .apk online. I want to delete the bloatware, but how do I back it up so I can restore it incase I need to. It seems I can only restore data, not the .apk file.
Any help appreciated
Just run the apks from your phone and they will install.
But the APKS wont be there if I delete them
You said you downloaded the apks correct? Just save them on your computer if you ever wanna play the Sims then simply put the apks on your phones sd card and run them from a file manager.
No, I downloaded only the Sims apk, the other apks are in the system on the phone. It won't let me move/copy them, so if I delete them, they'd be gone
I have both apks and I have deleted the Sims off my phone and reinstalled and works fine.
Yes, but I mean the other bloatware, such as Allshare or Amazon mp3, if I delete those APKs, how am I able to reinstall them
Ohhhh I see lol why would you want to reinstall them? The Sims 3 is the only thing I would consider keeping out of the garbage thats preloaded on the phone. Most of the bloat ware are useless trials anyway.
I mean for warranty purposes, I would need to unroot and reinstall it incase something happened
Well flashing the stock rom would be pretty easy and would restore everything except the sims which you have
Oh thanks
Puushiki said:
Oh thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just be aware this will remove everything that is not stock, so if you have anything you downloaded from market or elsewhere, you need to back that up separately. There are two basic ways to back things up, to the SD card and to your computer. The SD card is not wiped like the internal memory card is when you wipe, so apk files will be safe there. There should not be anything preventing you from copying apk files, ensure that you are rooted.
A few questions:
1.Titanium Backup says that the default backup directory is sdcard/titaniumbackup. But when I go to my Folders, that folder is listed right there and not inside the SD folder (which I assum is the SD card). There is no sdcard directory. So is this folder really still on the SD card?
2.Also, all the apps that I have bought, must be backed up to the SD card as well? Or can I just redownload them whenever I need them?
3. Is there a way to create an "image" of the phone that will back up everything, including settings, homescreens, apps, etc?
Excelsius said:
A few questions:
3. Is there a way to create an "image" of the phone that will back up everything, including settings, homescreens, apps, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid, My Friend.
If you are unfamiliar with what nandroid is or how to use it just search the forums here for all the info you'll need. It's very simple to backup and restore your system.
Titanium will NOT backup system apps. It can only back up their data.
Clockwork recovery (nandroid) makes a copy of pretty much everything, but you don't have the option I believe of restoring individual components with ease the way you can with Titanium.
Each serves very different purposes.
1. There's the "sdcard" (internal storage), and the "sd" (external storage). The phone always stores things on the sdcard portion for data and such, so I've got in the habit of just storing images & video and new apk's to install on the sd card, but everything else goes on the sdcard (even music for me, because my playlists seem to get cleared if I don't do that). So yes, you should have a directory under sdcard called titaniumbackup (along with a directory called sd).
2. You're best bet is to back them up using Titanium Backup, but the Market will remember all your downloads including paid aps once you've signed into your Gmail account. Titanium Backup will also backup market links, but be sure you download the busybox version (click on the "Problems?" button on the Overview screen).
3. Nandroid pretty much will create an image backup. Titanium Backup will save everything, but for system apps, just the data is saved (and so long as you're not flashing all kinds of different ROMs, Titanium Backup should restore everything nice and tidy for you).
Excelsius said:
A few questions:
1.Titanium Backup says that the default backup directory is sdcard/titaniumbackup. But when I go to my Folders, that folder is listed right there and not inside the SD folder (which I assum is the SD card). There is no sdcard directory. So is this folder really still on the SD card?
2.Also, all the apps that I have bought, must be backed up to the SD card as well? Or can I just redownload them whenever I need them?
3. Is there a way to create an "image" of the phone that will back up everything, including settings, homescreens, apps, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back when I had the G1 and always made a backup with nandroid. I could just go into the nandroid folder, find the current backup, then find the folder which had all the apks and just take the ones out that I wanted to. I had a reason for doing this, forgot why.
I don't know if nandroid still uses the folder structure on clock's recovery like it did on Armon(?)'s recovery in the G1. So, I'm not sure if it's still possible.
Do i need to install titanium backup to external sd card so i cab restore the backup on internal sd card of GT? I am asking because if i flash the device and the tit. backup is on the internal sd card everything will be deleted including tit backup app so from where i can restore my backup?
No need. You just install titanium on the phone and do the backup. You can then move the entire directory to your external sd card. When you flash, you just install it again and then restore your backup.
/Feras - Galaxy Tab
sorry which directory to move you are talking about?
No need to move anything. Just change the backup folder in TB - Menu - Preferences - Backup folder name from the default of TitaniumBackup (which is on the internal SD card) to external_sd/Titanium Backup (which is on the external SD card). Voila! You may need to reinstall TB from the Market if you have deleted everything but the backups will remail on your external card.
norm2002 thanks, you know without changing the directory (before reading your post) i backed up everything and then flashed with JMI, flashed perfectly and then installed Titanium back and when i tried to restore i see no files to restore it was 0 written. I was assuming TB uploads all data to it's server but now No Voila for me. But now you taught me how to backup. Will press thanks for your help.
norm2002 said:
No need to move anything. Just change the backup folder in TB - Menu - Preferences - Backup folder name from the default of TitaniumBackup (which is on the internal SD card) to external_sd/Titanium Backup (which is on the external SD card). Voila! You may need to reinstall TB from the Market if you have deleted everything but the backups will remail on your external card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was very helpfull. Had the same problem wenn i flashed the Roto-rom. Thought i was covered with Titanium. But the flash deleted mij internal-sd. Now all is on the external and i am very pleased..
i've always run how norm2002 describes it. hasn't failed me yet.
oh men, no offence, but this forum is becoming a rubbish container...
times ago I remember this forum as one where there were only advanced users posting their finds and where the newbies could read and learn about...
but now every new(to android and not only!) user is opening 3d here and there so the usefull 3d are going to finish bottom page or even in the other pages and finding what you need is becoming just as searching a needle in the rick.
so please USE THE SEARCH BUTTON and some nous before posting such things...for the "well being" of the XDA comunity...
thanks and I repeat : NO OFFENCE INTENDED!
how could somebody pretend to mod his cell/tab without even reading the settings in the apps he uses?
.....to posterity the arduous sentence!
norm2002 said:
No need to move anything. Just change the backup folder in TB - Menu - Preferences - Backup folder name from the default of TitaniumBackup (which is on the internal SD card) to external_sd/Titanium Backup (which is on the external SD card). Voila! You may need to reinstall TB from the Market if you have deleted everything but the backups will remail on your external card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll make the change too.
If you want to be sure, you could always copy the titanium backup folder from the tab to your PC(USB), and copy it back after formatting/flashing a rom.
Nice tip norm2002! I can't count the times I have deleted my precious backups when I repartitioned!
Thank you all, you guys are very informative.
YoMarK said:
If you want to be sure, you could always copy the titanium backup folder from the tab to your PC(USB), and copy it back after formatting/flashing a rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more places you can have backup files saved, the safer you are. With TB it's wise to have the backup files stored on:
- External SD card
- PC
- Dropbox
This way, regardless of what happens, you have your backup files safe and can set up your Tablet (or a new one if your old Tablet gets lost/stolen) easily.
Ok guys thanks for all the answers
The dropbox option is very cool!
Hello,
I wonder if anyone know... What happens when let's say i have 9gb of data on my s2 and i want to backup it with nandroid? It should be possible to do this to sd card, but what if some apps are on phone and some on sd card? How backup then?
If i upgrade to a newer custom built rom, i them try to backup, wouldn't it restore the older backed up firmware? Or just apps and settings, but not rom itself?
Thank you,
Tomas
no one? did no one fill their phone and tried to backup? maybe there is a solution to backup to a computer?
execine said:
Hello,
I wonder if anyone know... What happens when let's say i have 9gb of data on my s2 and i want to backup it with nandroid? It should be possible to do this to sd card, but what if some apps are on phone and some on sd card? How backup then?
If i upgrade to a newer custom built rom, i them try to backup, wouldn't it restore the older backed up firmware? Or just apps and settings, but not rom itself?
Thank you,
Tomas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid backups are an image of
/system
/data
/dbdata
(on CF-Root, not sure about original CWM) it also includes .android_secure, which is SD-stored apps.
I don't understand what you are asking.
If there is not enough space you obviously have to delete something.
BTW: data-partition is around 2,1GB and system-partition 500MB, so there is no way a single backup can use 9GB
Maybe I am not being very clear, sorry about that
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
One more technical question about rom upgrades. Currently i installed Villain Rom and have a backup made with nandroid. When i upgrade to a newer Villain Rom 1.5 or whatever comes out and I do the restore, i suppose it will restore 1.4 rom version with it's all apps and settings?
In this case, how do i backup only accounts, contacts, sms , apps, photogallery but not rom itself?
Sorry for all those questions, but i'm reading the forum all over, and there's still hundreds of questions i'm looking to find answers, so that i could comfortably migrate from iphone to galaxy..
execine said:
Maybe I am not being very clear, sorry about that
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
One more technical question about rom upgrades. Currently i installed Villain Rom and have a backup made with nandroid. When i upgrade to a newer Villain Rom 1.5 or whatever comes out and I do the restore, i suppose it will restore 1.4 rom version with it's all apps and settings?
In this case, how do i backup only accounts, contacts, sms , apps, photogallery but not rom itself?
Sorry for all those questions, but i'm reading the forum all over, and there's still hundreds of questions i'm looking to find answers, so that i could comfortably migrate from iphone to galaxy..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding restoring only apps/accounts/etc but not the rom iteself, within cwm, in backup and restore, chhoose advanced restore and the restore data.
Im not certain whether it restores gallery or sms.i sync my photos via dropbox, and backup my texts seperately.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
So there is no unified backup solution for android? You would have to back up everything separately ?
execine said:
So there is no unified backup solution for android? You would have to back up everything separately ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's fairly simple:
Nandroid for your ROM and user data that is on the PHONE and /data partition
For the /sdcard and /sdcard/external_sd, that's up to you to sort out... Perhaps back up the contents by connecting to your PC? Then copy the contents of the SD? That way you have your nandroid backup stored on the computer just in case
so then in case something goes wrong, i restore with nandroid and manually copy contents from PC and ALL of my phone's data (software, contacts, gallery etc) will be there?
execine said:
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, now you have a phone that doesn´t hide everything from the user it shouldn´t be that hard to make a backup.
There are basically 4 interesting partitions on the phone:
system (about 500MB) - This holds more or less the whole Firmware. While it is technically just a partition on the flash-memory, it is used like a ROM in normal usage, so the only situation where something will be written on this partition is a firmware-upgrade.
data (about 2GB)- This partition holds all user-installed apps and their settings.
sdcard (about 12GB) - This is not really a sdcard. Instead it is a part of the internal memory, you can use it for example for media, documents, images etc., whatever you like. This partition can be accessed on your computer as a regular USB-storage, and you can do a backup of it the way you like, either simply copying everything, or using a backup-solution of your choice.
external_sd (optional) - This is the micro-sd-card you can put in your phone. Obviously you can use it for anything you like. This partition is also accessible as a USB-storage or you can use a simple USB card-reader to access it on your computer.
Usually all your applications and settings will be stored in the /data/-partition.
If you choose the Move-to-SD option in the application-manager, some parts of the application will be moved to the (internal) /sdcard/-partition, but all the user-data/settings still remain on the /data/-partition.
So the maximum space you need to backup all your settings and apps is under 3GB.
Now to the possibilities of a backup, and the importance of the different things.
A nandroid-backup will basically make an image of the /system/ and /data/ partitions (also a bit more, but that´s not really important).
Usually it will use the /sdcard/-partition, which actually is still in your phone.
If you restore a Nandroid-Backup your System will be in the exact state before the backup, including all applications with their settings (which also means contacts, e-mails, sms etc).
Obviously everything that has changed after the backup will be lost.
A restore well also restore the complete firmware from the backup.
A backup from Nandroid can only be restored on the same phone, with the same partitions.
The second possibility to make backups would be TitaniumBackup.
This program will store all your installed applications and their data.
Default it will store it on the internal /sdcard/, but it is probably more useful to change the path to the external_sd.
Everything in Android is an application, so this will also save all your settings.
During a restore TitaniumBackup simply reinstalls your applications and then restores their settings.
TitaniumBackup can restore your applications with any Firmware, and in theory even on other phones (it may not work with special System-apps but it surely works with most "user-apps")
So Clockworkmod is great if you want to play around with different firmwares, especially Custom ROMs.
You can install different ROMs, make a backup and very easy and fast switch between them.
For a "regular" backup TitaniumBackup is maybe the better choice, it can backup all your settings and applications and for example if a Firmware-update goes wrong simply restore anything.
There is no real need to backup the /system/-partition anyway, you can simply download the Firmware and flash it, there is no user-data on this partition.
sdcard and external_sd usually only contains media, which you probably have somewhere on your PC anyway, so there is no real need for a backup, maybe for the pictures and videos you make with your phone, but again you should copy this on your PC regularly anyway. And if you want you can easily copy everything on it as well.
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?[/quote]
Apps can´t be several GB in size on Android. Normally you have only around 2GB for Apps, if you use the App2SD-feature it can be expanded a bit.
If applications need a lot of data, for example like navigation-programs or games, they will download this on the first start and store this on the /sdcard/-partition.
As I said, you can access this easily like a removable drive and copy everything you like.
It isn´t also that important to make a backup of this, as it can be downloaded again anytime, and if something goes wrong it usually will mess up your system and don´t influence the data-partition anyway (well as long as you don´t repartition the whole memory)
Thank you, that does explain a lot!
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Tomas
execine said:
Thank you, that does explain a lot!
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Tomas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they are stored in /data
You back that up using nandroid, then you restore it via nandroid and they will be there. What you see on your PC via USB is the "internal SD".
Understood, thank you. Things getting more clear after a week of reading and using the phone ))
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
execine said:
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you see the (internal) /sdcard/ partition and (if present) the /external_sd/ (the MicroSD-card you have in your phone)
To simply backup your applications, the easiest way is TitaniumBackup.
This will store the .apk and settings for each up in a folder of your choice (on /sdcard/ or /external_sd/, as you usually have no direct access to the other partitions)
You can copy this folder on your PC, or even in the TitaniumBackup-folder of another phone and use it there.
There are several advantages using TitaniumBackup to save your Apps over CWM-recovery. You can use it with the enabled phone for example, and also just restore individual Apps, if you like.
I have the 32GB wi-fi version of the Nexus 7. Over a couple of months of use (and changing ROMs a few times), the storage capacity was reading very low even though I only had a couple of apps loaded. I read about how this can be a problem with the Nexus 7 and you can do a full wipe to restore the correct storage capacity. The process recommended doing a backup and storing it on your PC. I did this and then did the full wipe. The device will not boot now (Google screen only). I can get it into recovery mode but I don't know how to get my backup image onto the device. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
P.S.
I have searched the help & troubleshooting forum for two days before posting this. This is a last resort!
i'm surprised searching for "how to restore nandroid backup" didn't yield any results..
you were probably low on space due to all the backups taking up space, each one can easily take up several GBs. you should have tried to move them to PC without full wipe. they're just stored in the sdcard partition, probably in "clockworkmod/backup" or "TWRP/backup" depending on the recovery.
anyway you did a full wipe and then didn't install or restore anything afterwards. so currently you have a blank tablet with nothing installed which is why it doesn't boot .
did you copy or move the backup to your PC? when you full wiped did you only wipe the system and data partitions. i hope you didn't wipe the sdcard partition either way.
- if you copied the backup, just go back into recovery, select "backup and restore" or similar, then click "restore" and select the latest backup.
- if you moved the backup, you obviously need to move it back . within recovery you'll need to mount the sdcard when connected to PC (under "mount" option or similar), then depending on which recovery you use, move the entire backup folder to the correct location e.g. /TWRP/BACKUP/ or clockworkmod/backup. then restore.
The memory wasn't tied up in backups (or anything else that showed in storage). I had removed all but basic apps (ROM Manager, GMAIL, etc) and only kept one backup. It was odd, the available space said 3.4GB but the graph above showing available storage indicated a LOT more! It's like they are reading totally different information. Where I am getting totally stuck at is the computer does not seem to recognize the device when it's connected so I can't get the backup back onto the device. I have installed the appropriate drivers on my PC but still nothing. I really appreciate any help you can give on this!
I flashed my i9500 with TWRP 2.8.1.0 using Odin and it wrote an undeletable backup onto my internal memory. To get rid of that, I backed up the "BACKUPS" folder and formatted the internal storage only for it now to cause the entire internal storage to be write protected to my android apps. I can copy and delete stuff to it through PC but my apps wont work, those that require to download pics and videos or make backups to the internal storage, web browsers can't download anything to the internal storage yet I now have over 7GB free space.
It's clear TWRP is write protecting the internal storage selectively (first it wrote protected the storage to both the phone and pc, now to the phone only). How should I sort this problem out?
I have also just tried using root explorer to change permissions to the internal storage but it doesn't work. It's failing. Titanium backup shows its own backup folder is unwrittable. It cannot be changed by Root explorer
I just tried fixing permissions in twrp but to no avail. I uninstalled Clean master only to try and re-install it and it won't install now, it gives a failed install error. Kingsoft office continually shows "stopped working" and fails to work completely. All this started with flashing Twrp. I can't view pics in whats app or send them, neither can I edit documents. Any help to rid of this issue will be gladly appreciated.
People please please avoid twrp at all costs!, i have now lost all my data and apps are all failing. I deerly deerly regret why i ever flashed twrp recover in the first place!
I seem to have solved the issue after a very grueling experience.
TWRP has its flaws and it is quite notable here. Here is how I have gotten around the issue:-
Immediately after I installed TWRP I made a system backup of the entire phone as of its state at the time.
I copied it to my pc and tried to delete the backup that TWRP had made. It was completely write protected, nothing could delete it.
I then decided to use TWRP to format my internal storage after backing it up. Then restore the data back which I did successfully.
Little did I know what had happened. TWRP had assigned the internal storage attributes that even Root explorer (paid) could not undo.
The internal storage had become unusable to the system and user apps.
Slowly my apps began to collapse one after the other failing. From frustration I tried to salvage the data the apps held at the time so that I can factory reset and restore but Titanium backup could not access its own folder. That's where all the frustration begun.
I later flashed CWM and accidentally formatted all my data instead of the data partition.. this was now hell.
One last try which was about 5 hours later I returned TWRP recovery, wiped the data partition and got hold of my prior backup with TWRP, restored it and am 9 hrs back from total loss of data. So the internal storage now has its initial attributes prior to the predicament.
Am actually back exactly to where all this mayhem began when I decided to delete the "BACKUPS" folder and there was absolutely nothing else that was wrong, which now I will attempt to delete hoping that I won't experience deja vu.
This is a problem worth reporting to TWRP developers and I don't know how
TWRP recovery Fix Permissions
I couldn't delete back ups from the internal storage at all. I couldn't even copy saved back ups from my pc to my Note 3. I went into TWRP recovery, under Advanced select Fix Permissions
Now I can delete folders in the TWRP main folder with a ES file explorer or on my PC via usb cable.
Never had any problems like this with TWRP on my S4+. For me the backups taken and its folders can be handled just fine, copied, deleted, moved etc. Must be som compatibility issue with your setup.